Professional Achievements

Dr. Mansky is an internationally recognized expert in the study of HIV genetic variation and evolution. As a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Howard Temin (Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine, 1975), Dr. Mansky determined the in vivo mutation rate of HIV and found that it is one of the most rapidly evolving viruses in the world – which is key to HIV’s ability to quickly evolve drug resistance and frustrate attempts to create an effective preventative or prophylactic vaccine.

As a faculty member, Dr. Mansky and his research team have pioneered studies of the determinants of HIV evolution and have applied these findings in the discovery and development of novel antiviral approaches to the treatment of HIV infection. Dr. Mansky has given over 40 invited lectures, published over 50 peer-reviewed articles, and has been awarded over 4.5 million dollars of research funding.

Dr. Mansky has been honored by numerous awards, including the American Society for Microbiology President’s Fellowship, the American Cancer Society’s Heroes of Hope Award, as well as a National Institutes of Health Career Development Award.

He regularly acts as a reviewer for journals including the Journal of Virology, Virology, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., and currently serves on the editorial board of Retrovirology. He is a presently a regular member of the NIH AIDS Molecular and Cell Biology (AMCB) Study Section.

Dr. Mansky has served as Director for the Institute for Molecular Virology at the University of Minnesota since 2003. This Institute has over 50 investigators who are conducting virus research towards or at the molecular level, which is the location where virus research and related investigations intersect one another.

A central goal of the Institute is to encourage interdisciplinary and interprofessional collaborations that could lead to new discoveries and, ultimately, more potent diagnostics and therapies. For further information, see: http://www.virology.umn.edu

Dr. Mansky says, “What my Purdue Calumet experience means to me”

Purdue has a national and international reputation of excellence in science and engineering that I believe helps inspire students in these areas to achieve success in their chosen career paths. My experience at Purdue laid the foundation for my striving for excellence in my area of research expertise, molecular virology.

I remain indebted to the Purdue faculty who shared their knowledge and enthusiasm for science with me during my time as an undergraduate student. As I advise and mentor the postdoctoral fellows, Ph.D. students and undergraduate students in my research group and at my university, I seek to inspire them as well to achieve excellence in research and scholarship.